Paul Mulrennan column: the inside track on my Saturday rides
By Paul Mulrennan
Last Updated: Mon 6 Nov 2023
The 2023 Flat turf season is drawing to a soggy conclusion. Newmarket is known for being fast draining, but conditions will still be testing for a nine-race card featuring the rearranged Betfred Horris Hill Stakes.
The Listed Montrose Fillies’ Stakes, and the Listed James Seymour Stakes are other highlights, and I travel south to Headquarters for four rides. Don't forget to watch all the action live on Racing TV.
Four rides at Newmarket on Saturday
I start with Ed Walker’s Geliceaux (11.52am) in division two of the seven-furlong fillies’ novice. She ran green on debut at Windsor, but Ed’s horses usually take a good step forward from their first appearance. As a Cracksman filly, she’s well-related, and this race is a learning curve for most of the others as well.
Dylan Cunha has done well since switching from South Africa to Newmarket, so I’m really looking forward to riding Faro De San Juan (1.02pm). I’ve enjoyed chatting to Dylan previously at the races, but this will be my first ride for the yard.
Faro De San Juan has fair soft-ground form in France and ran well (third) on his first start for Dylan at Doncaster in April. He’s close to his last winning mark – Chester – and had a valid excuse (slowly away) last time when returning from a short break.
Shardam (2.47pm) is a lovely ride to pick up for Archie Watson in the British EBF 40th Anniversary Montrose Fillies’ Stakes. She’s a tough filly who will really relish the conditions. Soft ground is ideal, as her half-sister Tucson Gold was also successful (over 1m2f) in similar conditions.
Given that most of the others haven’t run since, it isn’t easy to accurately assess her Haydock win, but I do know that Archie thinks a fair bit of her. She certainly deserves to take her chance in a race which features several other recent winners.
We haven’t seen much of Hieronymus (3.57pm) this season, but George Baker’s seven-year-old did run well at Ascot (second) on his penultimate start. Both of his wins have come on the AW at Kempton, but he has demonstrated that he handles soft ground via various placed finishes further back.
All-Weather serves a purpose
Newcastle has been a grim place this week in terms of weather, but their excellent Tapeta surface has kept the show on the road, offering many opportunities for trainers to race their horses, and for jockeys to take rides.
I’m certainly not advocating that we should lose any turf fixtures, but the recent wet spell has made it challenging for many racecourses. Sadly, the likes of Redcar and Catterick have lost fixtures, and with changing weather patterns, we might well need a rethink with regards the autumn calendar.
All-Weather racing will always attract criticism, but we would have been in a much poorer place this week, and next, without its presence in the calendar. Tracks such as Newcastle, Southwell, Wolverhampton, Lingfield, Kempton and Chelmsford all serve a purpose.
Can we think about curtailing the turf season earlier, and redistributing those ‘at-risk’ turf fixtures to earlier in the season? We need a flexible approach to quickly switch fixtures to suitable tracks.
Catterick was in the news this week, with their Chief Executive James Sanderson indicating that there was “a reasonable chance” that their Flat turf track could be replaced by an artificial surface “in less than ten years”. Should such a change occur, the racecourse could become a real asset to trainers in nearby Middleham and Malton.
A look ahead to next week and beyond
Assuming this weather pattern does relent, the focus will shift to Doncaster for the traditional swansong - the Virgin Bet November Handicap - to the domestic Flat season. I’ll endeavour to offer the usual in-depth guide to my rides there, and then conclude this column for 2023 the following week with a few horses to keep an eye upon during the winter All-Weather season.
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